Penitence – Righteousness

Penitence, righteousness, submission, and that’s obedience. Obedience, I need to have you turn to James, chapter 1, where this issue is addressed. In James 1, verse 21, James says, If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, verse 23, Jesus said that, in Matthew 7, didn’t He? John 8 says, in verse 30, But Jesus was going to test the character of their faith. Was it the real thing? Were they authentic? So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in my word, then you are.

Mathetes alethos, in the Greek, Real disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. That’s true salvation. If you hear the word and you abide in it, that’s again indication of obedience. In 1 John chapter 2, again the same emphasis, in verse 3, Jesus said the thing in the upper room when He said, If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments. If you belong to Me, you’ll obey My word and My Father’s word. Verse 4 of 1 John 2 says, The one who says, I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him.

But whoever keeps His word in Him, the love of God has truly been perfected, and by this we know that we are in Him. You want to know you’re in Christ? You’re going to know it when you obey His word. Chapter 3 of 1 John, verse 24, says the same thing. And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and he in Him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. You look at your life and you see an aversion to sin, a penitent attitude, a willingness to confess your sin, a recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy.

You look into your heart and you see a love of righteousness, a desire to do what is right and honour and glorify God, something beyond the superficial righteousness of the Pharisees, a true love for the right, from the heart. You look at your life and you see a desire to submit in every area of your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who is the sovereign over your life. You hear the word and you respond with a desire for obedience. Those are things that mark a true and authentic Christian. And number five in this brief list is love.

Love. What do you love? That’s a fair question. We’re in 1 John, look at chapter 2, verse 15. Do not love the world, the wicked system that Satan operates on this planet, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It can’t be more clear than that. If you love the world, God’s love isn’t in you. In James, chapter 4, a very similar statement, chapter 4, verse 4, you adulterous is, that’s metaphoric. You say you’re the true wife of God, but you are not.

You’re an adulterous. Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You can’t do both. You can’t love Satan’s system. I’m not talking about a sunset, and a beautiful mountain, or a pretty picture, or a good meal, or a comfortable chair. I’m talking about the system, the cosmos, the wicked world system. If you love it, the love of God isn’t there. You can’t be the friend of that system without becoming the enemy of God. And then back again to 1 John, there are some other issues of love.

1 John 2, verse 9. The one who says he’s in the light, says he’s a believer. And yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. You, first of all, you love the kingdom and not the world. Secondly, you love other believers. The one who loves his brother, verse 10 says, abides in the light, and there’s no cause for stumbling in him. In verse 11, the one who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. It’s the test of love.

For whom do you have the greatest affection? For God’s people. Do you love to be with the Lord’s people? That’s the issue. Look at chapter 3 of 1 John, verse 14, here again, very, very clear. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who doesn’t love abides in death. Verse 17. Whoever has the world’s goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

We shall know by this that we are of the truth and shall assure our heart before him. I mean, it’s that simple. If you believe in him, and you’ve been genuinely transformed, you will love the kingdom, not the world, and you will love the brotherhood to say nothing of loving him. John said, we love him because he first loved us. That’s the right approach to the inventory. The question to ask yourself is, do I have a penitent heart over sin? It’s not as penitent and repentant as it ought to be, but is that my character? Is that the longing of my heart to turn from sin? Do I have a desire for righteousness? To do what is right? To honour and glorify God? Do I long to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ? Even though my flesh battles against that, do I have a desire to submit to his will, no matter what it is? And do I hear the word with eager ears wanting so much to obey it? And do I love the kingdom and not the world? Do I love believers? Do I love the Lord? Those are the issues.

So any spiritual inventory is a matter of now. It’s a matter of those issues present in my life. And I have to say that if you hate sin, love righteousness, eagerly submit to the Lordship of Christ, long to obey the word of God and love what is righteous and holy, God has changed your heart. You’re a transformed person because that is not normal. That’s not just plain humanity. To see these tests perhaps cast in a different light, turn to 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1. Now he says in verse 5 here, apply some diligence in your life.

Pursue moral excellence. That’s another way of talking about righteousness. Pursue knowledge. That’s another way of talking about obedience. To know the truth that you might respond to it. In your knowledge, pursue self-control and perseverance and godliness. And there’s that love. Brotherly kindness and then love itself. Pursue these issues. And this is another way to frame the very same things that I’ve given you. Moral excellence. That’s the pursuit of righteousness. Godliness. That’s turning from sin. Self-control, obviously. Bringing yourself under the control of the Lordship of Christ. Perseverance means obeying, no matter how difficult it might be.

And brotherly kindness and love, of course, refer to the category of love. And then in verse 8 he says, if these qualities are yours and you can see them developing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. They give evidence that your knowledge of Christ is a true knowledge. It’s a true knowledge. In verse 10 he says, if you do this, you will make certain about your calling and God’s choosing you. And as long as you see these things, practice these things in your life, you’re never going to stumble into doubt.

But rather you will give evidence that someday, entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. The key to think about is verse 10. You can make your calling an election as the NAS, as the KJV says, you can make your calling and choosing, or your calling an election, sure. When you look at your life and you see these things, then you’re going to know. If they’re not there, verse 9 says, if you lack these qualities, you’re going to be blind, short-sighted, and you will have forgotten that you’ve been purified from your former sins.

You know, it is possible for a Christian, according to Peter here, to get confused if he’s not continually pursuing these issues. These are the marks of true salvation. If you have fallen into some spiritual doldrums, or followed patterns of sin as a believer, and you start doing an inventory, you may have some real doubts. But if you are pursuing these things, you will have none, you’ll have none. It’s these spiritual tests that convince us of the genuineness of our salvation. They are God wrought works in our lives. —— One other text demands some attention.

James 2. James 2.14. It’s not enough to say you believe. James says, what use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but he has no works? Can that kind of faith save him? And it doesn’t do any good to say, I believe, I believe, I believe. It doesn’t do any good to say, I made a decision, I walked an aisle, I responded to an invitation, I prayed a prayer, I signed a card, I felt emotional, I was baptized, I was confirmed, or whatever else, it doesn’t do any good.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of penitence, righteousness, and submission. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].